


After the truth was revealed

by Foreign



Category: The Morning Show (TV 2019)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-02
Updated: 2020-01-02
Packaged: 2021-02-25 06:14:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22091353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Foreign/pseuds/Foreign
Summary: Neither Alex nor Bradley can believe what they did.The action takes place just after the last episode of the first season.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 19





	After the truth was revealed

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so I wrote it on the spur of the moment. I decided to translate it into English and publish it.  
> I hope you enjoy my work :)

Bradley looked at Alex's deep blue eyes and for a moment she didn't know what to do, where to move, what to _think_ at all.

Cory waved his hand at them, giving a sign that the transmission was over. Marlon yelled at someone behind the glass, he was apparently terrified and angry and looked at them every now and then.

Alex turned away from her, swallowing saliva and clenching her hands in fist. For the first time, Bradley didn't know exactly how she should react. She simply breathed deeply and stretched the pants fabric with her hands, looking at Cory, who was trying to talk to the manufacturer. She looked at the quiet blonde.

Her eyesight was completely blank. It wasn't angry, it wasn't satisfied, it wasn't sad – it was bland. As if something had happened that couldn't be expected in any way, but at the same time, Alex had already lost so much that it didn't make any difference to her. Well, at least right now.

She wanted to speak, she already opened her mouth, but then followed Levy's eyes. She couldn't see from here what she was looking at – it was only when she leaned out gently that she saw Fred. Fred, who was looking at Alex with fury, with disbelief. He was standing behind the door which was preventing him from reaching the control station.

Then she looked at Alex again. She didn't know what was going on in her head, maybe she didn't even want to know, but she expected that either there was a complete emptiness, or there was so much going on that it would be hard to imagine it. Bradley looked at the wet table, avoiding the happy, maybe even proud, sight of Mia, Alison and other women working with them every day.

What made Alex do… this? 

What made her suddenly decide to oppose everything? That she decided to put her whole career at stake, something she had worked for many years and then tried to keep it even longer?

Alex's hands went to the table. She touched the water she had previously poured on the face of a new producer, who had to admit that he had a good baptism at work. Even when the end of her navy blue vest's sleeve got wet, she didn't look at the table. She was looking at Fred all the time.

Soon this strange idyll, during which their room was quiet as if in some forgotten forest, ended. Marlon came through the door, looking at them with anger and cold. He rushed to them quickly and, as she expected, even this did not catch the attention of the blonde sitting next to her.

“What the fuck was that supposed to be!?” He was yelling at them, but Bradley couldn't tell if he was more scared or pissed off. He didn't seem to fully understand what actually happened. And Jackson couldn't understand it either.

She got Mitch in trouble. Fuck, she got Fred in serious trouble. She threw into a huge swamp the whole fucking station, the whole The Morning Show, and if insist, UBA also will be under some kind of fire. Because they will have to fix it, they will have to bother themselves personally. God, Mitch and Fred could now be simply sued and convicted, they could go to _prison_.

Fuck what did she do? What did they all do?

“Marlon, I think we need to focus on stabilizing one big chaos in the station now. Alex and Bradley can wait.” Cory smiled widely, with his hands in pocket and took his usual, relaxed and somewhat strange posture. 

“What?” Tate asked, looking at him with big eyes. “How can you be so calm? In general, why... what are you…” He widened his eyes like he remembered something. “You were holding me down. You wanted them to say it, you _let them_ do it! God, what are you even-” He bent down, spread his arms in a gesture of surrender, vulnerability, and horror. Bradley swallowed her saliva without knowing what to do.

“You need to get out of here as soon as possible.” Cory interrupted Marlon, turning to Bradley and Alex. However, noting that Alex did not pay the slightest attention to him, he grimaced and focused completely on the brown-haired.

“What…” Marlon tried again, but Cory waved his hand in front of his nose.

“It would be good if you went together and were in the same place. It would be better if you went out now, thanks to which the reporters would not rush on you, and it would be _even better_ if you ran away before Fred tore your throats”

He laughed, but Bradley wasn't laughing. Instead, she grabbed Alex's arm, who just woke up after that jerk.

“I will keep Fred as long as possible. However, it does not guarantee that I can last more than a minute, so run away!” He shrugged and a wide smile came into his face.

So Bradley pulled Alex behind her, looking back all the time. As they were leaving the room through one of the back entrances, she noticed Fred being let in. It was then that he immediately started walking toward them, stopped only by Cory, who seemed in excellent humor.

Mia suddenly found herself in front of them – she was carrying two bags in her hands. Alex took one of them without thinking, not even bothering about her missing jacket. Bradley didn't do that either.

Walking through the corridors she saw the women looking at them with seriousness and appreciation, the men also seemed to appreciate what they had done - although not all of them. Bradley pushed Alex into the elevator and swallowed her saliva, sending a message to the chauffeur to wait for them.

They've been silent all this time. However, during their stay in the elevator, Alex seemed to grow a little and breathe. The emptiness in her facial expressions melted away, replaced by some sublimity, majesty, concentration – she didn't know what was that, but Alex suddenly disappeared under some kind of mask, as she had already done a few times.

And, as usual, she was impressed. Not everyone was able to suddenly hide all their emotions and suddenly become someone else, hide under artificially created seriousness. Alex was a real professional, although she was also a human being – which she showed them all, and especially her, when interviewing the man who saved the dogs in the fires.

They quickly walked through a piece of pavement, on which they were arguing and chasing in the morning, almost immediately entering a black car with tinted windows. Even though it didn't take more than five seconds to walk this distance, she felt the sight of people on the street. They've seen the fucking huge screens on the buildings. The whole city saw it.

Bradley got into the car as the second one, closing the door with a loud slam. The driver turned to them, also with a slightly different vision than always, asking where to go.

Jackson swallowed saliva and looked at Alex. However, she stubbornly stared at the glass, ignoring her pleading eyes.

Bradley didn't really know what to do, so she gave the blonde's address. Her house shouldn't be as besieged as a hotel, accessible to practically every journalist. Levy didn't even move when the car started driving, but Bradley felt like she was about to throw up.

Mitch. Fred. The Morning Show. UBA. 

It's all in one move, with one completely improvised minute. She didn't even want to think about the consequences that awaited her, Alex and Cory. Damn, the whole The Morning Show could, no, fuck, it certainly suffered _already now_.

She looked sideways, not wanting to think about it. Fuck, she really didn't want to think about it. Now that she's done what she's done, she didn't know if she did the right thing. Maybe it would be better if she left it all in the silence of the program three weeks ago, maybe it would be better if she did not think about it at all. 

Then Hannah could survive. Then Hannah _would have_ survived.

She sniffed. She wanted nothing more than to hug her brother, damn it with everything that was happening around her. Just the last few weeks she was as lonely as never before – she always had a person who considered her a friend, annoying, because she was annoying, but a friend. Now the only people she had around was Cory, who was now trying to slow down the angry Fred, Chip, who she hardly knew, and Alex.

Alex, who opened up to her twice, and with whom she quarreled practically every day hard enough, that she went to the fucking Fred with a request to release her. She was sick of her.

And now she sat a dozen or so centimeters away from her and she acted as if the world did not exist. And although Bradley was aware of how fucked Alex's life was now, and even though she realized that today, with one minute she was tearing down what she was building for years, Bradley was still angry. Because, damn, Alex should finally _say something_ , she should _move_ , she should at least _look at her_.

But she was stuck in her one pose, in seriousness and focus, as if she were wondering. As if she's analyzing every word she says, maybe even every move she makes since getting a job as a presenter on The Morning Show. And Bradley understood her, but she also wanted a sign, anything, that Alex realizes that it wasn't a simple task for her either.

But on the other hand, it was Alex who could now destroy fifteen, maybe even more, years of work. And Bradley was aware that this job was Alex's _whole life_.

It turned out that in front of Levy's house there were already journalists standing, who were trying to break through tinted car glasses with camera flashes. Car entered the property and stopped after another minute. The blonde was sitting motionless for a while, and suddenly, as if gathering inside herself, she left the vehicle.

Having no other choice, she followed her, without any comment from the woman. Alex missed the kitchen, she didn't even take her shoes off. She came up to the bar, poured herself literally a whole glass of whiskey and sat down on the couch, looking out the window. Bradley was standing a few yards away from her, not knowing how to behave.

Today, she has probably lost she's usual power of adapting to every situation. Besides, Alex, who acted as if she didn’t exist, did not facilitate the work in any way.

After a few minutes, when her legs started to get a little tired and Bradley was almost sitting on the floor, Alex moved her blue eyesight to her.

“Have a drink.” She said to her, clearly peeking at the bar. “Make yourself at home, we could soon be lynched by the whole UBA if Fred has good lawyers. And he has.”

She nodded unconsciously, pouring herself some liquor, she didn't know what kind. She took off her shoes carelessly and sat down on the couch, also looking out the window. She did not want to offer to watch the news, certainly, YDA was already using what happened. Besides, she probably didn't want to hear it herself.

After a few minutes of silence, the vibration of the phone woke them up from the trance. Or at least Bradley, because Alex didn't even move a millimeter. Jackson didn't know if she should worry about this phone, she would certainly look who called the blonde, even out of pure curiosity, but the cell phone was in her purse.

“You won't answer?” She asked when it called for the fourth time.

“What for?” She answered her quietly, with a tired tone. Bradley looked at her and the first thing she noticed was her blue eyes staring at her. “Either it's Fred, who would yell and I wouldn't know what to say, or Cory, but it's unlikely - he would call you, not me. It could be Chip. But now I'm not in the mood to talk to him.”

She was looking at her and Bradley almost felt as if she was expecting something from her. She swallowed unsteadily, sitting quietly for a few more seconds.

“It could be Jason,” Alex said even quieter, and her voice was a little weaker than before. “But talking to him would be weird.” 

“How do you know?”

“A hunch.” An ironic smile came into her face – delicate, bitter. “No one else calls me.”

_Mitch called._

Mitch must have called her often, but Alex seemed to shake him out of her thoughts now. She understood that. After all, there was a huge chance, and even certainty, that because of that one minute, Mitch could be charged. He could not only lose money and houses – he could lose his freedom. And it's because of Alex. 

All because of his longtime friend, whom he probably treated as a family.

She looked at her with gentle compassion, but Alex turned her head to the side, staring back at New York. As if she especially avoided compassion. Or did she consider it pity? Alex was sometimes too proud and haughty, but thanks to this she maintained her position in the country. It scared her and impressed her at the same time.

Bradley didn't seem to realize before how Levy must be lonely. She probably talked to her daughter and other employees earlier, but from what she found out from Mia, since Kessler was fired, Alex became so nervous that rather nobody approached her with real desire to talk.

**“She was always restless and impetuous, but she was always careful not to overdo it with her behavior. You could have a nice talk with her then, she smiled more often and she even joked with all of us, except maybe some people. Then Mitch was fired, and with him, her attempts to calm down disappeared. You see how she behaves on a daily basis. There are not a few hours without her shouting or threats. It wasn't like that before, although, she was always stressed and, well, imperious.”**

Bradley didn't argue, she just nodded without saying a word and kept listening to the buzzing sound of the cell phone. She clenched her hand on a thick glass full of amber drink, trying to process what they did today.

But she couldn't. And she didn't even honestly try.

“Fucking shit.” Alex finally snarled, ripping the phone out of her purse. She rejected the call without even looking at who was calling her, and then she tossed the device into the chair at the other end of the room.

Bradley stared in fear as the phone hits the chair and stays on it. She sighed shakily.

They spent the next minutes in tiring silence. It was not like Bradley – stay still, do nothing, wait. And this time she also began to fidget restlessly, even though she didn't want to. Because what could she have done? Nothing. Outside, like vultures, journalists were waiting, and probably more and more of them were arriving from minute to minute.

“When you were here the day before yesterday.” A blonde woman whispered, drawing attention to herself. Bradley looked at her, straightening out gently while waiting for the next words.

The last meeting in this house was not a pleasant one, at least not at the end, when she suddenly decided to admit like some finished idiot to what she was doing behind Alex's back.

But is she sure to be an idiot then? Thanks to this stupid decision, because she confessed, Alex was aware of what was happening. If it hadn't come to light, if Hannah had died and Mitch had been stopped by Chip in his apartment, Alex would have had no idea. She'd be moved by Hannah's death, but she probably wouldn't do anything towards the whole Me Too action. It was a far-fetched statement, she knew it.

But Alex maybe wouldn't do _anything._

In the meantime, today, Alex did _everything_ , she could.

“I was kidding you not to jump off the balcony.” She kept talking, and Bradley felt uncomfortable. She nodded. “Now, to be honest, I'd jump myself, you know?”

There was silence – Bradley didn't know if she should take it as some poor attempt to improve her humor or a true confession. Whatever any of these two would be, Bradley's lost the urge to make any comment. She's always destroyed something lately. She didn't have the strength to do it anymore.

So she decided not to worry about this sentence. 

“Why did you do that?” She said straight, as always. She clamped her hand tighter on the glass, pissed off that she was doing it again. _Again,_ she gave in to her stupid instinct and asked questions that sometimes should not be asked. And yet, because of this behavior… because of this behavior, an innocent, ambitious person has _died._

Because of this behavior. _Because of her._

She couldn't stop the tears from appearing in her eyes. So she turned to the window, wiping it with her other hand.

“What have I done?”

“Why did you interrupt the program? Why did you decide to stand up to Fred? And Mitch?”

And again there was silence, during which both of them drank their drinks. Alex straightened up gently. 

“I've noticed what my behavior can lead to.” She whispered, and her voice seemed to break down.

Bradley barely, really barely, refrained from the question that was on her mind from a memorable interview with a former TMS employee. Did Alex know? She said she saw what was happening, but she didn't react. But before that, as if denying everything, she said that she had no idea about Hannah, that she didn't… That she didn't know anything.

She felt like Alex didn't know anymore what she was saying or what she was doing. She felt like Levy got lost in this fucking game of The Morning Show, that with Bradley's appearance, everything started to get out of her control. But on the other hand, Alex must have known that she…

Fuck. It was so complicated, that she didn't understand anything. She couldn't sort everything out of her mind, and in some fucking way, Alex was doing it. Not now, not yesterday. But she did it for a _few years_ and she didn't get lost. Although there was no such panic in the entire station then, there was no one like Bradley Jackson who was talked about abortion on the air, Bradley, which with each interview only added more problems for The Morning Show.

Tears appeared again in Bradley's eyes.

Hannah. She could fucking live. Were it not for this fucked up interview, if not for Mitch. And Alex lived with this man for 15 years. She had to know. She had to know everything, like Chip. Only his position was much worse.

“Bradley.” She heard, so she wiped away the tears and looked back into Alex's blue, sad eyes. “I... I knew it. I didn't know _everything_ , but I knew _a lot._ And I can't stand it.” She whispered. “My behavior could have made more Hannah. It could be Mia, it could be Claire…”

Bradley got up, put a glass of alcohol on the table, and sat down by the blonde. She breathed deeply and looked into her eyes as if waiting for some kind of permission.

Then Alex put down her glass and they both embraced in some definitely strange, awkward embrace, soon relaxing and sitting snuggled. In silence. For the next few minutes. 

Although it wasn't her brother's arms, she felt better. Maybe not much better, but certainly just better, than without that clumsy hug. She was also 100% sure that Alex also breathed quietly tired all these last weeks.

But she involuntarily felt disgusted to Alex. She knew about these women, she was aware of the problem, at least partially. She knew and she was sorry now, but… Fuck, she should do something. After all, she was an adult woman, the only woman who could do something bigger in The Morning Show. And she didn't do it.

Because she achieved success. And she didn't want to destroy it.

She did it today.

“Bradley, it really wasn't your fault,” Levy whispered soon. Brown-haired wanted to move away from the embrace and protest somehow, but Alex held her tighter. “You did what you thought was right. What was right. It is my fault that I have never reported it anywhere, that I have not reacted as I should. It's my fault.”

“Alex…”

“No, Bradley.” She interrupted her. “There's nothing we can do about it. We did the right thing, now we have to prepare for the consequences. At least... At least now America will know that no job is perfect, right? That even with us there are cases… of this, all of it.”

“Maybe.” She whispered back, hugging her harder. Bradley sighed deeply, hearing the phone vibrate. 

This time, it was her own. She looked at the display, then she looked at Alex, and back at the display.

“I owe you an apology, Bradley.” She heard when she was supposed to answer the call. “The last three weeks, the recent events... It's all my fault. I'm sorry I dragged you into this shit.”

“Alex, it's okay.” It was mostly a lie, but she didn't want to make things worse.

Alex was right. It was all, her trips from hotel to hotel, her public opinion, her work, _everything_ that was happening now in her life, Alex's fault. All of it. 

She really felt sorry for her, but she couldn't approach her with sincere sympathy. Alex has been almost mentally unbalanced over the past few weeks, she was lost in everything she has done with her work and her life. She knew it was because of Fred, the threat of being fired. She also knew it was because of all this thing with Mitch, and that her daughter received the news of divorce badly, but…

Alex turned her whole life upside down. And she couldn't forgive her, not now.

Once again, peaking at the sad, blue eyes that stared at her with fear and pain, she swallowed saliva. She took a call from Cory. 

She knew that it was just the beginning of the end.

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know if you liked it :)


End file.
